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West Ham win is crucial, admits Sunderland skipper John O’Shea

First up this weekend are high-flying West Ham United at the Stadium of Light, but the omens are not good for the Black Cats with Slaven Bilic’s side boasting a 100% away record in the league having already won at Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City.

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Speaking on SAF See TV Jack Rodwell says they’re confident they can get something from this fixture.

“It is a big game, even more so because of how it has gone the last few games”.

You can also leave a voicemail for the gang at 01915481034 Extension 4 and your voice could appear on the show.

It’s a pattern which urgently needs to come to an end against West Ham on Saturday, as Sunderland search for both a maiden clean sheet and Premier League win.

“If we can improve the concentration, then the effort is there on the training ground and hopefully it will turn quickly”.

While Advocaat continues to tinker with his back four in an attempt to engineer a defensive improvement, Jones’ position would not appear to be at too much risk ahead of Saturday’s meeting with West Ham.

Bilic said: “Those three away wins mean nothing for Saturday because if we think it will be easier against Sunderland, then we need to stop that”.

Goals have been coming thick and fast for West Ham as they have netted 15 in seven top-flight games, with eight different goalscorers, but they suffered a dent last weekend when a 2-2 draw against Norwich City ended their three-game winning streak.

“So this game is more hard than those ones because now everyone around us is expecting us to win this game”.

Defender Angelo Ogbonna is out with a hamstring injury while Winston Reid is doubtful with a hip problem.

Defoe could be given the nod to start alongside Borini as the two attacking threats for Sunderland as they desperately need to find goals from somewhere. Andy Carroll has a sore ankle but it is not considered serious and the striker is likely to be available.

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“They often say that it can take the foreign lads a season to do that, but not with Dimi and he has settled in straight away and he is playing fantastic football”.

AFC Bournemouth's Callum Wilson and Sunderland's Younes Kaboul battle for the ball